Keystone Coal Terminal

The Keystone Coal Terminal at the Port of Jacksonville, Florida is currently planned for development by the Keystone Coal Company, a unit of Keystone Industries LLC. The terminal is slated to be built on the former site of the Jefferson Smurfit paperboard plant on Wigmore Street at the northern end of Talleyrand Avenue, Jacksonville. It has been reported that the terminal may handles up to 3 million tonnes per annum.

The terminal is slated to open in 2011, and could open markets in the southeastern and midwestern U.S. to Colombian coal. Use of Keystone Coal Co.’s $20 million terminal is expected to create access to imported coal that is 10 to 20 percent cheaper than domestic coal. Because rates for rail transport of U.S. coal continue to increase, the cost of getting the Colombian product to buyers would be significantly less, possibly as little as $4.50 per metric ton, versus $40 per metric ton for domestic coal. Keystone owner Tom Scholl suggested that despite calls for more environmentally forms of energy, the lower cost of Colombian coal would ensure its continued use for electrical generation.

The Jacksonville Business Journal reports that the owner of the Keystone Coal Company, Tom Scholl, "owns a mine in West Virginia and mining rights in Colombia".

The project is proposed to include a rail loop which connects to the existing Norfolk Southern Corporation line, which runs to a CSX line and Florida East Coast Railway, a short-line running from Jacksonville to Miami.

In June 2009 Jacksonville.com reported that the city council had granted a "conditional capacity availability statement" to Keystone Industries LLC for the construction of the terminal. "According to the concurrency application, the $100 million project is scheduled to be completed in three phases ending in 2014, 2019 and 2024, respectively. As well, the application states that the coal facility is expected to bring 620 jobs to the area," Jacksonville.com reported.

Personnel

 * Bill Harris, project coordinator of the development of the terminal.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Colombia and coal
 * Coal terminals